The importance of touch in a socially-distanct world

In a socially-distant world, the importance of human touch is becoming increasingly apparent. But, in the health and social care sector, the process of re-establishing physical relationships may be a long one.

It seems a long time ago since 23rd March and the TV address in which the prime minister first introduced lockdown measures. The message then was clear: you must stay at home. Over the days, weeks and months since, however, the message has been refined, reworded, reinvented. Lockdown has been a rollercoaster. Hard to hold onto. The end, feeling a long way off.

The importance of rebuilding relationships

For all the talk of infection rates, R numbers and more, there has been one simple consequence that has not made headlines. A consequence that, to some degree, we have all endured.

A lack of human contact.

Or what, in research, is known as affection deprivation.

As lockdown is loosened, the importance of rebuilding physical relationships cannot be overstressed, especially for those subject to the shielding regime. Although the use of technology has helped people remain connected, touch has become almost taboo. Social distancing – the neologism of the moment – has become the norm. Communication now happens across a gap of two metres, even among families.

This is a burden on all of us (one, I think, we are yet to fully understand) but, for those in residential care units, the toll has been made worse by the scale of human tragedy: death rates that far outstrip those in hospitals and at home; the loss of close friends and even carers. And all without the most basic comfort that comes from the touch of another.

Touch makes us all feel good. A vast amount of research is now available to help us understand why it is so important (opens new window). The effect of touch cannot be overestimated and helps explains why, while technology has helped us connect more than ever before, many still feel bereft. It is not human faces or voices we are unconsciously longing for; it is human touch, in whatever form it takes, that makes us feel better.

Getting back in touch – literally!

Re-opening care homes is likely to be a much slower endeavour than in the community at large. There will also be no one-size-fits-all approach. Facilities blessed with gardens large enough to comply with social distancing rules, for example, are already beginning to arrange time-allocated slots for short visits. Those too with more than one lounge or reception room.

But for the many smaller homes, easing restriction may feel more like a dream than an imminent reality.

Each setting will assess the impact of each step, trying to find the right balance between sometimes-competing needs: those of residents and their families, desperate to see loved ones again; those of compliance processes and systems; and those of staff – on whom the impact of lockdown is simply not yet known.

Getting ‘back to normal’ – whatever normal is! – is going to require more patience and endurance.

Success, but at what cost?

Lockdown has done what it was set up to do. It saved the NHS. But care homes and residential units must now also be saved – from the lack of touch and humanity of lockdown and its failure to adequately protect our most vulnerable. Human touch is the healing ingredient that we need to face the future. Without it, trust will never be rebuilt in the people and institutions who should have been there but, sadly, were not up to the task.

Margaret Ross Sands – Business Support Director
W & P Assessment and Training Centre.